OTR Interviews

McCain: Obama's policies have ISIS blood on their hands

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Right now, two big breaking news stories. The savages ISIS executing dozen of Christians in Libya. Right here, in the United States, six terror suspects, Americans, under arrest, accused of trying to join ISIS. ON THE RECORD is investigating.

But first ISIS executing. Again, a 29-minute video appearing online showing the terror network slaughtering dozen of innocent Ethiopian Christians. Vicious ISIS operatives are heard telling the hostages to convert to Islam or pay a tax. This is the second time ISIS is staging a mass execution of Christians in Libya. The burning question, is President Obama doing enough to try to stop this despicable terror network from growing and killing these innocents?

VAN SUSTEREN: How much is the world going to tolerate all these videos of people being executed by ISIS?

MCCAIN: I think the question is not the world but the president. How long are we going to watch these things happen? For example, it's in Libya now? We had without the lost of one single American soldier that killed Qaddafi we walked away. Suppose after World War II after we defeated the Germans, everybody just walked away. You know what Europe would have looked like. We just walked away. We didn't help them with arms. We didn't help them build a free society. We didn't help them in any way. We just walked away.

VAN SUSTEREN: Are you saying the blood of --

(CROSSTALK)

VAN SUSTEREN: -- essentially the blood is on the president's hands?

MCCAIN: I think it's on our president's policy. I think it's very clear. I think that when you have the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that says Ramadi, the capitol of the Anbar Province, the heart of where the Sunnis live, that it doesn't matter if that city -- you saw the pictures of the 10,000 or so people or more that had to leave -- that it doesn't matter when we had 187 U.S. soldiers and Marines killed in the battle for Ramadi in 2006, 2007, 1150 wounded. Michael Mansoor, the Congressional Medal of Honor Winner, was killed in Ramadi taking care to save the lives of his friends. And the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says it doesn't matter. It's not part of the caliphate. What the hell was he talking about when he said it's not part of the caliphate?

VAN SUSTEREN: Why did he say that?

MCCAIN: It's symbolic.

VAN SUSTEREN: Why did he say that?

MCCAIN: I can only -- I have been trying to figure it out for a long time. He just -- I think he does what pleases the president. He certainly -- it doesn't make any sense to say it doesn't matter if the capital of Anbar Province falls to ISIS. And call it the caliphate?

VAN SUSTEREN: I said how long is the world is going to tolerate it, you said is how long is the president going to tolerate it, but when you wake up and 29-minute video --

(CROSSTALK)

VAN SUSTEREN: -- of more people being beheaded and shot.

MCCAIN: Did you see the piece on "60 Minutes" on the sarin gas attack in Aleppo, I believe it was, in Syria? I think it was Aleppo. The horrible little children, thriving in deathrows because Basher Assad dropped sarin gas on them. What did the president of the United States do? Again, he walked away.

VAN SUSTEREN: Why?

MCCAIN: Leading from behind. He doesn't believe America is an exceptional nation. He believes we are just like every other. He doesn't want to get involved. 200,000 people slaughtered. Millions are in refugee camps. All of whom blame us. And, by the way, we are sowing the wind and we're going to reap the whirlwind of these refugee camps. And this president walks away. Every American should see that documentary that was on "60 Minutes" last night. I am telling, it you will make you physically ill.

VAN SUSTEREN: But when we see these horrible videos of these people in jumpsuits, whether it's Jordanian video ISIS. It's day after day after day.

(CROSSTALK)

VAN SUSTEREN: Are the American people getting so desensitized to this stuff?

MCCAIN: The people doing it are the "J.V." By the way, the American people are not desensitized. More and more think we have to have boots on the ground to try to stop this. And by the way, they are not talking about 82nd Airborne and the president always sets up these strawmen, oh, there are those, i.e., me and Lindsey Graham, that want to sends in thousands of troops. We don't. We want to give them air controllers. We want to get them trained. We want to give them intelligence information. We want to give the Ukrainians just weapons to defend themselves --

(CROSSTALK)

VAN SUSTEREN: Why isn't he helping the Ukrainians?

MCCAIN: He -- I mean that is really one of the darkest chapters in our history, failing to give the Ukrainians weapons to defend themselves against Russian tanks while their country is being dismembered. I am so upset about this -- this world is on fire. This brings me to Lindsey Graham and what the key issues are going to be in this primary.

VAN SUSTEREN: Which are?

MCCAIN: Which is, I mean, he knows them better than anybody and he can articulate our challenges. But, more importantly, how could you possibly, as you are the chief military officer in the land, say it doesn't matter if ISIS takes a place where we sacrificed 187 brave young Americans, one of them the Congressional Medal of Honor?

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you think it was just a slip by Dempsey?

MCCAIN: You can show the clip to our viewers.

VAN SUSTEREN: I know. It's so appalling.

MCCAIN: Show the clip to our viewers and see if -- but also, again, why is ISIS in Libya, because we weren't there, but also, it's because people are being attracted to the view that ISIS is winning. Now, the president will say they are losing, the chairman will say they are losing. They are not in the eyes of these young people that are being recruited over the Internet here in the United States as well as Europe.

VAN SUSTEREN: Senator, thank you.

I want all the people who have lost loved ones or who have been injured at Ramadi to know we do appreciate everything they did. It's not insignificant to the rest of us.